some personal news: we (probably? almost certainly?) bought our bathroom & kitchen tiles from the family business of one of this week's University Challenge captains. [the "news" bit is seeing this guy on UC - we bought the tiles several years ago]

like many old oil hands, in the 1970s Robert Redford became an advocate for solar energy:

the oil spillover!

Cool job alert! Public education re invention and innovation @ Lemelson Center @NMAH: https://trustcareers.si.edu/postings/6f15e5b7-58d5-45d7-9f7c-3880ee86f3cd

the perfect digital archival exhibit doesn't exi... library.missouri.edu/specialcolle...

okay, the kicker - this person appears to be a parapsychologist! so this episode lends weight to the thesis that fringe sciences aim - at least in certain respects - for a more idealized [note: not *better*, just more idealized] scientific practice than mainstream sciences.

was just contacted by someone who had read a couple of my publications closely & fairly & supplied new evidence w/ which I could make a more correct interpretation of an old source. just how science is supposed to work! will RP this story to add a little twist - stay tuned.

I will soon be hosting an interdisciplinary workshop at @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social on "Heritage: A Concept at the Crossroads of Biology and Culture" (Sept 19th), co-organized with Giovanna Targia. Programme here: philevents.org/event/show/1...

Tomb Raider/Pulp Fiction mashup: The Lost City of Zed

UKers - why do you write "motor" & "rotor," not "motour" and "rotour," huh? jk, jk - the inconsistencies w/in all varieties of English are part of its charm. let 1K flowers bloom! apart from the BBC's insistence that "y" is a consonant. trample that flower under your muddy boot.

some wild type (more or less innocuous) tortured phrases for @gcabanac.cpesr.fr www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...

are the Channel Islands just enclaves or also exclaves? asking for a four-nation kingdom in personal union with a deposed duke and a recovering monarchy/five-time republic

re-upping in honor of Labor Day

The story of how the federal government became an innovation evangelist in the 1960s is an account of fits, starts, and ideological ambiguity. Read an adapted excerpt from "Every American an Innovator" by Matthew Wisnioski: issues.org/nation-of-in... @issuesinst.bsky.social

Would be interested to hear what you learn, as I've been looking at anti-takeover innovations (eg poison pills) that were developed or at least refined in/near the oil industry in the 1980s.

STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social showcased by @mitpress.bsky.social !

will his crack Parsi counsel turn to a DC version of Blitz to mobilize public opinion?

does sandwich guy have a Parsi lawyer? inquiring minds (well, inquiring children of Parsi lawyers) want to know. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

the intro & most articles for the J Energy History special issue that @moneschleper.bsky.social @odinnmelsted.bsky.social & I edited have been out for ages, but I've delaying skeeting a summary of the whole issue until all the articles were up. which they now are! 1/x stm.cairn.info/journal-of-e...

my colleague Ernst Homburg is slowly purging his book collection & came across this copy of Nigel Calder's Spaceship Earth (1991). look who sponsored old Nige! another oil spillover - perhaps similar to ARCO's sponsorship of Carl Sagan & Jacques Cousteau in the '70s. any historical work on this?

We are seeking a PhD candidate with an interest in East–West European relations (1970s–1990s) to work with me and Aline Sierp. The deadline for submitting proposals is 28 September. vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

Many don't know that Saskatchewan was a hub of alternative energy research and development in the 1970s. Read "A Family Affair: Alternative Energy Research in 1970s Saskatchewan" by Justin Fisher niche-canada.org/2023/11/09/a... #energyhistory #alternativeenergy #skhistory #cdnhist #envhist

has anyone done a mash-up of Star Wars and Anne of Green Gables? call it "Luke with an E." or "Leia with an I" - Owen & Beru get sent the wrong twin but decide to keep her anyway, Gilbert becomes Han, etc etc.

Make sure to read @monicavasile.bsky.social's wonderful new article in Environmental Humanities - arguing we should think of reintroduction projects not as a form of 'homecoming', but as 'homemaking'. #MovingAnimals read.dukeupress.edu/environmenta...

for historians of chemistry and materials science, there's only one Pope Leo:

my T&C review of Engineers & the Two Taiwans by Kuo-Hui Chang, Gary Downey & Bono Po-Jen Shih. a concise, perceptive study of the politics of apolitical engineering & fine complement to other histories of Taiwanese S&T, eg @honghongtinn.bsky.social's Island Tinkerers. muse.jhu.edu/article/965841

A colleague/friend from my former employer collects stories ab/ miscreant deans (conclude what you will ab/ my former employer) so I send him clippings like this one. Surprisingly often, in fact! So lucky w/ the deans we've had at my current employer - it really makes a huge difference.

MOSASAUR!! At the beach - careful going in that water.

It's finally here! Our edited volume is out with @mitpress! And it could not be more timely! As the heatwave and water shortages across Europe are severely affecting nuclear power plants, the nuclear-water nexus is more important than ever Read all about it here mitpress.mit.edu/978026255228...

Ever hear of this, @thatminesgirl.bsky.social ?

is @historyscience.bsky.social 2026 in Edinburgh really on a Monday through Thursday? seems ... unusual. what's the reasoning? @mbarany.com is this due to local considerations? not that i'm complaining, really - i'm just trying to figure out if it's feasible to attend given the NL school vacations.

warning by Dutch-Usonian physicist @ Rice U, Chris Tunnell, for NLers to be wary of radical govts' ability to quickly dismantle scientific infrastructure. Chris tried publishing in US papers but media rot too far along - good for Volkskrant for saying yes. www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opin...

My colleague and friend Darryl in action, exploring the temporalities of history we need for #philtech at #spt2025

My ERC project FeMMiWork is hiring a postdoctoral researcher. Must have strong German language skills and archival research experience. Please help spread the word! Deadline is Sept. 1. Postdoctoral Researcher on Women Migrants in Postwar Germany vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

honored to join this @historyofscience.bsky.social roundtable @kathrynolesko.bsky.social's invitation. my contribution "Make Silicon Valley Boring Again!" argues that today's broligarchs aren't just aberrant relative to you & me, but even relative to the history of Silicon Valley...

the Fast & the Furious franchise missed a trick making The Rock's character a Samoan-American named Hobbs & not a Gujarati-American named Shah. the spin-off movie, Shah & Shaw, would've culminated in a glorious demolition derby thru Mumbai. & that's the *only* shahanshah the world needs right now.

The oil and uranium industries always have been intertwined. Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte published my new article on the shared history of uranium and oil geophysics in German, French and Canadian seemingly depleted boreholes. You can read the article (Open Access) here:

only just now seeing this @randomjetship.bsky.social - thx! www.brepolsonline.net/doi/epdf/10....

sic semper, uh, tyrannis?

your approved list of monarchs for today:

Maastricht proving itself a top 100 cosplay city once again.

thanks @siegfriedevens.bsky.social for the note yesterday about the Belgian state archives' extensive holdings related to business history - what a treasure trove!

Welcome @siegfriedevens.bsky.social In his dissertation Siegfried does the heavy lifting to de-exceptionalize nuclear power by reconnecting the tech to is hydraulic roots. Nothing new under the sun. #Nukesky

apparently I've been appointed to my university's Fossil Committee. which ... is sort of how it feels these days. here's hoping my remains will be informative when they dig me up & that I get a cool nickname like Ötzi or Bèr.

New article in ERSS - "Imagining a hydrogen economy: From grand technological utopia to enabler of the energy transition in three waves since the 1970s" doi.org/10.1016/j.er...

which of these should be my new banner?

very pleased to have been included in this H-Diplo roundtable review of Katherine C. Epstein's provocative & compelling study of early 20th c. intellectual property shenanigans in naval fire control technology, Analog Superpowers: issforum.org/to/jrt16-42

I have a new article out in Science & Education (journal of the Int'l History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Group) that should eventually be part of a special issue surveying common ground in the recent-ish history of science and science education literatures: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

great to hear that the History of Technology yearbook is coming back under the incomparable Suzanne Moon! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/hi...

for US Memorial Day, two of the three US WW2 cemeteries near Maastricht